The Nissan XTERRA Mountain Championships, an off-road triathlon event and series, will be held in the Ogden/Snowbasin area on Saturday. Pros will compete for a $20,000 purse, and amateur athletes are competing for qualifying spots into October's XTERRA World Championships in Maui.
The event previously was held in Keystone, Colo., and is the latest adventure-type race that is finding Utah's diverse landscape the perfect destination to test athletes.
"It was only a matter of time before it came here," said Guy Perry, the owner of the Salt Lake Running Co., which participates in XTERRA races as an age-grouper.
Snowbasin is the race venue. Participants will swim a 1.5k course in Pineview Reservoir, then switch to mountain bikes for a 30k ride to Snowbasin ski area and Wheeler Canyon. The race finishes with a 10k trail run that ends near the bottom of the Olympic downhill ski run.
The Ogden race is the last of five regional competitions that lead up to the USA Championships in Lake Tahoe, Nev., on Oct. 1.
Among the expected male racers are Brent McMahon, the winner of the first two races; Conrad Stoltz, a two-time XTERRA world champion and Olympian; and Andrew Noble, a former duathlon world champion. Favorites in the women's pro race include Jamie Whitmore, a four-time XTERRA U.S. champion; Melanie McQuaid, a two-time XTERRA world champion; and Candy Angle, the 2002 XTERRA world champion.
In addition to Saturday's main race, a variety of other events are scheduled, including 5k and 10k trail runs on Friday, a biking criterium and kids race.
Jeff Robbins, the president of the Utah Sports Commission, said his organization hopes to bring similar events to Utah, and is working to create an XTERRA winter world championship in 2008.
"There are only a handful of states that can compete with what Utah has in landscape and terrain," he said. "To not use the natural beauty of this state to promote it wouldn't be smart."
Robbins said the recent Primal Quest adventure race held in Moab had an estimated $4 million impact on the area.
---
Contact Lya Wodraska at lwodraska@sltrib.com or at 801-257-8907. Send comments to livingeditor@sltrib.com.
Hell on wheels
2006 Nissan XTERRA Championships in Ogden
Friday:
5:30 p.m. - Kids bike race
6 p.m. - Biker's Edge Crit Spectacular
7:30 p.m. - 5k and 10k trail runs
Saturday:
9 a.m. - Nissan Xterra Mountain Championship
10 a.m.-2 p.m. - Expo area open at Snowbasin
11:15-11:45 a.m. - Pro male and female winners expected to finish
Spectators free; more information can be found at http://xterraplanet.com.
